Backward, Christian soldiers

The Christian right may be hurting at the top, but at the grass roots, it's still a force to be reckoned with

By Harry Jaffe

Apr 9, 1999 | You could almost hear the entire nation exhale when Paul Weyrich, godfather of the far right political movement, declared in his post-impeachment funk that "politics has failed." It was time for the "moral majority" -- a term that he had coined nearly two decades ago -- to "drop out of this culture and find places ... where we can live godly, religious and sober lives."

Sounded as if he were calling for a truce in America's 30-year cultural wars.

Over the next few weeks, hard-core conservative columnist Cal Thomas came out with "Blinded By Might," a book suggesting that Christians had been seduced by power and politics. Then Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition, blessed George W. Bush's squishy position on abortion, which wasn't pro-life enough for the true believers. It seemed as if Robertson were willing to hold his nose and support the Texas governor who Republicans see as their best chance for retaking the White House in 2000.

In the space of a few weeks, three pillars of the church of Christian politics had started to crumble. "Some members of the Christian right have awakened to the fact that they're nowhere near a moral majority," says Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Governmental Studies at the University of Virginia. "They're one wing of one party." Even Janet Parshall, conservative radio commentator and spokeswoman for the Family Research Council, detects a "kind of cultural fatigue."

But beyond the Beltway, Christian fundamentalists are mounting offensives in state and local political contests. If anything, the 2000 political season will be the setting for cultural conflicts from school board races in Texas to the battle for the White House. There will be no cease-fire in the combat over abortion, gay rights and control of public schools.

"The movement is out of gas at the top in some ways, but it's never been more vital and energetic at the bottom," says Craig Shirley, a political consultant who represents the NRA, the Christian Action Network and presidential hopeful Steve Forbes, among others. "It's more threatening to the left this way. There's no easy bogeyman to motivate their base. It's more effective below the radar screen."

Raw numbers gauging the numerical strength of the religious right are hard to come by. Polls show that social conservatives could range from 15 to 30 percent of the total electorate, but they are closer to the high end among committed Republican voters.

The movement is like a pyramid, with a broad base at the local level that becomes more narrow and less significant in national races. "Their power increases in inverse proportion to the turnout," says Elliot Mincberg, vice president at People For the American Way, a liberal group that monitors the right wing. "When you expand it to the general election sphere, it's much harder for their voices to outweigh others."

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